Thanks for the links- very interesting reading!

Here’s a very readable explanation of why

A friend of mine who used to be a Methodist minister and is now an atheist has an interesting take on the Ten Commandments based on the one about not coveting your neighbor’s wife. That language indicates that God was not addressing women when he delivered the Ten Commandments, since they were considered the property of men. So whenever someone starts blathering about the Ten Commandments, she enjoys pointing out that God doesn’t consider her an actual human being; therefore, The Big Rules don’t apply to her.

I’d have to say you’re wrong about Jesus being an alternate-diety, Sheila, since Christianity states that God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit are one in three forms – Jesus literally being God and vice versa in the big, confusing triangle. But none

Sheila has a valid point. It took until the Council of Nicea in 325 CE to hammer out the details of the 3-in-1, and there have always been Christian sects that reject the idea of a Trinity. In medieval times, they were ruthlessly hunted down and (generally) executed as heretics but today there are still plenty of Christian flavours who don’t believe in it.

Indeed, this latter is how this atheist went much of the way along the path to conversion to Judaism, back in the day when my partner’s parents would have been a lot more OK with our relationship if I would do so. I was very impressed, and pleasantly surprised, to discover this very logical attitude in Judaism (that any worship-law can be set aside to preserve health/life of humans), and it really made it a lot easier to consider conversion.

Mostly, though, I’m just glad my parents were Protestant and Catholic in the 60s UK, and eschewed the whole thing in my own raising. Sometimes I don’t get references that people make – someone brought up Solomon the other day, and I had to look it up – but seeing the public performance of Christianity on this continent, I’m as glad to be out of it.

Especially people like Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, who, as you can see in the video above, wants the Ten Commandments posted in every courthouse in Georgia even though he doesn’t actually know what they are. (Believe me, if you questioned a roomful of fundamentalist Christians, an awful lot would be similarly ignorant about the particulars).

People who want them displayed without even knowing what they are aren’t treating them like scripture, or anything to be read and understood, but as an object to fuel their own self-aggrandisement as its wielders. That’s where it makes me think of idolatry, not the scripture itself.

Sure, religion can act as blinders, but so can atheism. I’m reminded of this constantly when I get into discussions like this. Atheists are often just as willing as the religious to twist definitions and historical facts in order to suit their own set of beliefs and discredit others’.